Blog: 2019 Houston Service Trip

Details:
Location: Houston, Texas
- This is the 10th year of BC's Service Immersion Trip and second year visiting Houston, Texas
- This year, the BC student-athletes are helping two families displaced by Hurricane Harvey

Blog Entry Day 6 - Friday, May 31

It was definitely a bittersweet day. We started with breakfast before we headed to our respective houses. We finished our projects and tasks at our work sites and said our goodbyes to our project leaders. The best part of the end of the work day was planning ways to give back when we return home to Boston. We had the opportunity to visit the house that the 2018 Houston service team worked on last summer! It was a great way to finish off the work week.

We enjoyed a final dinner together and ventured to an amazing park featuring artwork from local artists and ended with ice cream. We returned to the hotel where we debriefed and had an emotional, heartfelt reflection. We want to thank the Devlin family, Boston College Athletics, our chaperones and our SBP project leaders for this life changing experience.

-The Group

Blog Entry Day 5 - Thursday, May 30

Today we started the day off by going to the houses and attacking our morning tasks with excitement! This included cutting sheetrock, caulking, ripping up floors, texturing the walls and having loads of fun! Then we came back to the hotel very tired and dirty to regroup and get ready for dinner.

We then had a lovely sunset dinner at "Mod Pizza". The pizza was great and the company was better....but what was even better than the company were the cinnamon sticks. Following dinner, we headed to the Main Event Entertainment Center. We had a spectacular time competing in a round of bowling then finished the festivities off with a laser tag grudge match. It was a fight to the death, but we survived and have become stronger people because of it.

Once we got back to the hotel, we began our reflection with the group. We learned so much about ourselves and each other, and provided affirmations for one another. We cannot wait to finish off strong tomorrow, but we're also sad that the trip is coming to an end!

-Molly Barrow (Women's Ice Hockey)
-Alex Janke (Cheer)
-YaYa Van Ness (Women's Soccer)

Blog Entry Day 4 - Wednesday, May 29

Day two of work is in books! After taking the first day to learn the tricks of the trade from our fantastic site leaders, we began work at our separate sites. But first we started off the morning with delicious donuts from Shipley's that gave us some energy to get off to a great start.

At the first house, we sanded and textured some of the spots that we had mudded on Tuesday, and then we spot painted the walls in the family room. We had a lot of fun ripping our door frames in the back den and bathroom. We finished adding touch ups to the bottom of the walls.

Over at the second house, we cut a ton of baseboards for the house. It took a lot of measurements and re-cuts, but we got the hang of it. In addition, we did a lot of texturing to the walls. It is nice to see real progress on the house and everything coming together!

After some much needed showers, we headed to a group dinner at TGI Friday's. Following dinner, we gathered back at the hotel for a really meaningful reflection session. We considered a series of questions that asked us to think about where we come from, how we feel, and what we want to do in the future. We lined up at the pool and stood according to how much we agreed or disagreed with the statement. Everyone truly dove deep into their feelings and we may have even had the first tears of the trip (happy tears though!).

We are so excited to continue the progress we are making at our houses tomorrow!

-Sarah Dwyer (Field Hockey)
-Amaka Chukwujekwu (Volleyball)
-Olivia Murphy (Rowing)

Blog Entry Day 3 - Tuesday, May 28

Rise and shine! Today was an early start for us down in Houston. We divided up and started work on two different houses under the supervision of the SBP group. SBP is a nationwide organization focused on shrinking the time between disaster and recovery across communities affected by natural disasters. Despite being split up, our flexibility granted us the opportunity to help two different families get one step closer to returning home. Our work day consisted of sanding, painting, and installing baseboards and sheetrock. The work was hard but time flew by -- both of our groups displayed a strong work ethic and positive energy. Once we wrapped up for the day, we finished the evening with some southern barbeque and a team bonding activity at Escape The Room. Looking back, the attitude and enthusiasm of each group member contributed to a great start to our week of service. Alarms are set for tomorrow!

-Charlie Henderson (Cheer)
-Zach Walker (Men's Ice Hockey)
-Maddie Murphy (Women's Soccer)

Blog Entry Day 2 - Monday, May 27

Since it was Memorial Day today, we went to the Johnston Space Center where we were given a tour of the facilities. Everyone truly enjoyed the experience. We learned a lot about the history of space travel and got the opportunity to see many real spacecrafts and rockets, which blew our minds. After, we enjoyed a pleasant meal -- the food was great but the company was even better, as we enjoyed the presence of our newly formed friendships. After dinner, we retreated back to the hotel to regather before going to the University of Houston. There, we had the amazing opportunity to see the campus and have a little fun along the way. To escape the sweltering heat, we went swimming in the pool. Bonding over games like Marco Polo and sharks and minos, we have found solitude in the fact that we have made friends for life here. After dinner we gathered at the hotel to discus what we'll be doing on Tuesday. Today was an important day for us to bond as a group, but we are extremely excited to get to work and help the community of Houston.

-Alexia Mattos (Rowing)
-Kayla Moy (Fencing)
-Sam Holtze (Men's Basketball)

Blog Entry Day 1 - Sunday, May 26

We started the trip at Conte Forum and we were off to the airport. We bonded over lunch and cheered on the women's lacrosse team in the NCAA championship while waiting for our flight to depart. Four hours later, we arrived in Houston! We had our first group dinner and ended our first day with a debrief and reflection session. We established our group rules and goals for the rest of the week of service. We all agreed that getting to know the other student-athletes on the trip is something we are really looking forward to!

Our expectations we have for the week are:

1. Making a significant impact on of the lives of the owners of the houses we will be working on.
2. Get to know our fellow student-athletes and build on new relationships.
3. Being present during our trip and limiting our phone time.

Our group is here to help two families who have been displaced by Hurricane Harvey and we couldn't be more excited to start working with such an amazing group of people!

- Fusine Govaert (Field Hockey)
- Anthony Brown (Football)
- Laura Boden (Fencing)

Participating Student-Athletes:
Charlie Henderson - Cheer
Sarah Dwyer - Field Hockey
Alexia Mattos - Rowing
Maddie Murphy - Women's Soccer
Fusine Govaert - Field Hockey
Sam Holtze - Men's Basketball
Laura Boden - Fencing
Kayla Moy - Fencing
Anthony Brown - Football
YaYa Van Ness - Soccer
Alexander Janke - Cheer
Amaka Chukwujekwu- Volleyball
Olivia Murphy- Rowing
Molly Barrow - Women's Ice hockey
Zach Walker - Men's Ice Hockey

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